Britain, America and The Netherlands today launched a carefully coordinated fightback against Putin's army of hackers as the scale of Russia's global cyber warfare was laid bare.
First, the UK accused Russia's GRU intelligence agency of being behind hacks on the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), transport systems in Ukraine and democratic elections, such as the 2016 US presidential race.
Then, Dutch authorities revealed they had caught a team of Kremlin agents rigging up computers, phones and an antenna in the boot of a car to try and hack into the global chemical weapons watchdog in The Hague.
Then, this afternoon, the US Justice Department announced it has charged seven Russian military intelligence officers with hacking anti-doping agencies and other organizations.
The suspects, including some of The Hague cyber squad, are accused of hacking hundreds of people in 30 countries including people working in anti-doping organisation, for FIFA and staff at a US nuclear facility supplying power to Ukraine.
Five are also charged with aggravated identity theft, money laundering and using crypto-currencies illegally in transactions that occurred in part in US. Prosecutors said: 'We want them to face trial and be put in jail'.
The Kremlin was left trying to bat away a growing flood of evidence of its hacking activities around the world, with some allegations dating back years.
The US today charged seven Russian military intelligence officers over hacking attacks around the world
Dutch authorities have released images of four Russian agents who tried to hack into the global chemical weapons watchdog a month after the Salisbury novichok attack. CCTV shows them when they were kicked out of the Netherlands
Authorities released a picture of the car which was rigged up with hacking equipment
Surveillance footage shows the moment Dutch intelligence officers descended on the scene and caught the four men outside the chemical weapons agency
The US indictment lists the seven hackers offences as 'computer hacking activity spanning from 2014 through May of 2018', including targets including the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The defendants listed in the US are all Russian nationals and residents: Aleksei Morenets, 41, Evgenii Serebriakov, 37, Ivan Yermakov, 32, Artem Malyshev, 30, and Dmitriy Badin, 27, from the GRU's Unit 26165, and Oleg Sotnikov, 46, and Alexey Minin, 46, who were also GRU officers.
The FBI indictment lists a series of allegations against the seven wanted men. It says:
- In July 2016, Yermakov and Malyshev used 'spoofed domains' to unleash 'spearphishing' attacks on WADA and United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) employees.
- Also in 2016, Morenets and Serebriakov, with the support of Yermakov, went to Rio to target Wi-Fi networks used by anti-doping officials.
- In mid-September 2016, Morenets and Serebriakov compromised the wifi network of a hotel hosting a WADA anti-doping conference in Lausanne, Switzerland.
- In December 2016 and January 2017, the group successfully compromised the networks of International Association of Athletics Federations IAAF and football governing body, and targeted computers and accounts used by each organization’s top anti-doping official. Among the data stolen from officials were anti-doping policies, lab results, and medical reports.
- In April 2018, Morenets, Serebriakov, Sotnikov, and Minin travelled to The Hague to try and hack into the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) during the investigation in the Salisbury novichok attack. The case against these four was set out by the Dutch Defence ministry today.
It came after the British National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said the GRU were behind at least four hacking attacks around the world:
- Britain's cyber security chiefs say they have 'high confidence' Russian intelligence was responsible for a strike on Wada in August 2017.
- The NCSC said it was 'almost certainly' the GRU behind a 'BadRabbit'attack in October 2017 that caused disruption to the Kyiv metro and, Odessa airport in the Ukraine and Russia's central bank.
- The NCSC also stated that the GRU was 'almost certainly' to blame for hacking the Democratic National Committee during the US presidential election in 2016.
- The agency pointed the finger at the GRU for accessing email accounts at a small UK-based TV station in 2015.
A briefing in The Hague was shown pictures of each of the men's passports. Alexey Minin, from Perm, to the north west of Moscow, was named as one of the men
One of the men was named as Evgeny Serebriakov and his passport of photo was released
Another of the men was named as Oleg Sotnikov, said to have been born in Oeljanovsk
The passport numbers of the men were released, including Aleksei Morenets, from Murmansk
The three governments' public expose of the operation will reignite hostilities between Putin's regime and the West, following tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions in the wake of the Salisbury attack.
The Dutch Defence Ministry said the team of GRU officers - travelling on official Russian passports - entered the Netherlands on April 10, just a month after the Salisbury nerve agent attack.
Three days later, they parked a car carrying specialist hacking equipment outside the headquarters of the OPCW in the The Hague, where the novichok attack was being investigated.
However, before they could initiate the hacking attack, Dutch counter-intelligence officers descended on the vehicle and seized the men, who were then kicked out of the country.
The hacking attempt - described as a 'close access' attack due to the attempt by the group to get close to the building - followed a longer-range earlier 'spearphishing attack' on the OPCW headquarters.
The four men were named todayas Alekski Morenets, described as a cyber operator, Evgenii Serebriakov, also a cyber operator, Oleg Soktnikov, 'human intelligence' support, and Alexey Minin, also human intelligence support.
A laptop belonging to one of the four was linked to Brazil, Switzerland and Malaysia, with the activities in Malaysia related to the investigation into the 2014 shooting down of flight MH17 over Ukraine, Dutch Defence Minister Ank Bijleveld told a news conference.
At a joint press conference in The Hague, British ambassador to the Netherlands Peter Wilson said: 'This disruption happened in April. Around that time the OPCW was working to independently verify the United Kingdom's analysis of the chemical weapons used in the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury.'
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed the new hacking accusations from the Netherlands and UK as 'big fantasies'.
Surveillance pictures show the men at the scene on the day of the thwarted hacking attack
A map released by the Dutch authorities shows how close the group managed to park their rental car to the OPCW headquarters, where chemical weapons are investigated
Pictures show the cache of equipment seized from the men. They attempted to smash up some of the phones (inset) when they realised authorities were on to them
In a joint statement Theresa May and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said: 'We have, with the operations exposed today, further shone a light on the unacceptable cyber activities of the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU.
'This attempt to access the secure systems of an international organisation working to rid the world of chemical weapons, demonstrates the GRU's disregard for the global values and rules that keep us safe.
'Our action today reinforces the clear message from the international community: we will uphold the rules-based international system and defend international institutions from those that seek to do them harm.'
Meanwhile NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Russia to halt its 'reckless' behavior amid a series of global cyberattacks blamed on Moscow.
In a statement issued during a meeting of NATO defense ministers today, Mr Stoltenberg said: 'NATO allies stand in solidarity with the decision by the Dutch and British governments to call out Russia on its blatant attempts to undermine international law and institutions.'
He said that 'Russia must stop its reckless pattern of behavior, including the use of force against its neighbors, attempted interference in election processes, and widespread disinformation campaigns.'
The 29 NATO allies are discussing cybersecurity at talks in Brussels, with the US, Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands due to announce that they will provide offensive cyber-capabilities for use by NATO.
The revelations will further strain relations with Russia after Britain blamed Moscow for the nerve agent attack in Salisbury last March which left one person dead.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Russia could face further sanctions in the wake of the latest 'hard evidence'.
Dutch authorities released images of the huge amount the cash found on the men.Sotnikov had 20,000 euros and 20,000 dollars on him
The men took their own rubbish - including several beer cans - out of their hotel room, presumably because they were concerned about an investigation
Incredibly, a taxi receipt found on the one of the men named the street in Moscow where the GRU has its headquarters
Mr Hunt said: 'The first thing we are doing is to expose it and the words matter because there are countries all over the world that are hearing both sides of the story - they're hearing what the Russians say as well.
'This is the evidence that what we are getting from Russia is fake news, and here is the hard evidence of Russian military activity.
'But of course it will go beyond that, and that is why we will be discussing with our allies what further sanctions should be imposed.
'We will also be discussing how we need, working with our friends and allies, to counter this pattern of cyber attacks, which is the new type of attack that the whole world is having to deal with.'
UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, attending a Nato summit in Brussels, said Moscow was targeting organisations with no military value.
He told Sky News: 'What we are seeing is that Russia is quite willing to use such weapons such as cyber attacks against these organisations, and here at Nato we stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies in unity against such actions.
'What we have made clear is that we are not going to be backward leaning. We are going to actually make it clear where Russia acts that we are going to be exposing that action.
'And we believe that by doing so this will act as a disincentive for acting in such a way in the future.'
Dutch Minister of Defence Ank Bijleveld, director of Netherlands Defence Intelligence Onno Eichelsheim and British Ambassador to the Netherlands Peter Wilson revealed details of the thwarted hacking attempt at a briefing in The Hague today
Russia's GRU intelligence agency targeted the global chemical weapons watchdog, the OPCW, whose headquarters are in The Hague, Dutch authorities revealed today
Details were revealed on Thursday after the UK Government accused the GRU of a wave of other cyber attacks across the globe.
He added: 'The Russian government needs to know that if they flout international law in this way, there will be consequences, they will be exposed, and people will see the Russian government for what they are; which is an organisation that is trying to foster instability throughout the world and that is totally unacceptable.'
The NCSC associated four new attacks with the GRU, on top of previous strikes believed to have been conducted by Russian intelligence.
Foreign Office and computers at Porton Down research facility were hacked by Russian spies from GRU cyber unit 'Sandworm' in wake of Salisbury novichok attack
Russian spies attempted to hack computers at the Foreign Office and the Porton Down military research facility days after assassins tried to murder the Skripals in Salisbury.
Moscow's feared GRU cyber unit nicknamed 'Sandworm' tried and failed to infiltrate UK IT systems as part of a series of attacks across Europe this year.
They carried out an unsuccessful 'spearfishing' attack on the Foreign Office in March as the police, MI5 and MI6 were trying to find out who attacked Sergei and Yulia Skripal with novichok.
At the same time they targeted computers at Porton Down in April, Britain's top military research facility where experts were testing for the nerve agent.
Computers at Porton Down were targeted by Russian spies at a time when British experts inside were testing for novichok
British intelligence helped thwart the operation, which was launched in April, a month after the Salisbury Novichok poisoning.
Details were revealed on Thursday after the UK Government accused the GRU of a wave of other cyber attacks across the globe.
At a press conference in The Hague, British ambassador to the Netherlands Peter Wilson said: 'The disruption of this attempted attack on the OPCW was down to the expertise and the professionalism of the Dutch security services in partnership with the United Kingdom.
'The OPCW is a respected international organisation which is working to rid the world of chemical weapons.
'Hostile action against it demonstrates complete disregard for this vital mission.'
Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the UK's Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, tweeted: 'The catalogue of evidence shows why the Dutch are excellent partners and that the decades of theft have stripped Russia's intelligence of the skills they once had. Putin's corrupt greed has turned the GRU into an amateurish bunch of jokers.'
Dutch authorities released a diagram showing how the hacking equipment was set up in the boot of the car. Right: Some of the haul of electronic kit found in the group's possession
Russia's GRU intelligence agency targeted the global chemical weapons watchdog, the OPCW, whose headquarters are in The Hague, Dutch authorities revealed today
Russia 'interfered in three elections' as it targeted Britain, Macedonia, U.S. and Ukraine in string of 'brazen' cyber attacks aimed at destabilising democracies around the world
Russian spies launched a global cyber war to interfere with three elections, the Olympics, the MH17 investigation and the hunt for the men behind the Skripal attack in Salisbury, it was revealed today.
The Kremlin has been accused of using its agents to 'foster instability' in democracies around the world as their operations over the past three years were laid bare.
Targets included the metro and airports in Ukraine, police in Malaysia investigating claims the Russians shot down MH17 killing 300 passengers and even the emails of a small UK TV station.
Evgenii Serebriakov was among four Russians trying to hack chemical weapons inspectors and his laptop contained this selfie at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil - revealing one of more than a dozen GRU missions across the globe
Their hacking missions were inadvertently revealed by the four bungling spies caught trying to hack into computers used by chemical weapons inspectors investigating Russian attacks in Salisbury and Syria at their Dutch headquarters.
Cyber expert Evgenii Serebriakov's laptop was seized at The Hague and revealed he kept selfies from previous operations including at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil where Russian athletes' doping samples were tampered with and US athletes' medical records leaked.
His laptop also linked the men to cyber attacks in Switzerland, America, Denmark and Germany.
Two of the officers were planning to travel on to Switzerland where the OPCW - which was at the time investigating the Salisbury attack and a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria - has laboratories.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has said a number of hackers known to have launched attacks have been linked to the GRU.
The NCSC associated four new attacks with the GRU, on top of previous strikes believed to have been conducted by Russian intelligence.
Among targets of the GRU attacks were the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), transport systems in Ukraine, and democratic elections, such as the 2016 US presidential race, according to the NCSC.
The centre said it was 'almost certainly' the GRU behind a 'BadRabbit' attack in October 2017 that caused disruption to the Kiev metro, Odessa airport and Russia's central bank.
Britain's cyber security chiefs say they have 'high confidence' Russian intelligence was responsible for a strike on Wada in August 2017.
The NCSC also said the GRU was 'almost certainly' to blame for hacking the Democratic National Committee during the US presidential election in 2016.
And the agency pointed the finger at the GRU for accessing email accounts at a small UK-based TV station in 2015.
It is believed the men were planning to travel on to the Spiez Laboratory, where the OPCW was studying chemical weapons
Theresa May and the Dutch PM blast the Kremlin for 'unacceptable' cyber attacks and warn Russia is showing a total 'disregard for the global values and rules that keep us safe'
Theresa May today tore into Russia for its 'unacceptable cyber activities' and vowed to hit back to defend the international order against their strikes.
In a joint statement with the Dutch Prime Minister, she said the Kremlin is showing flagrant 'disregard' for the global values which keep the world safe.
And she warned that Britain and its allies will stand up to the Russian aggression to ensure that Western institutions are protected from the onslaught of attacks ordered by Moscow.
She issued the stern rebuke in a joint statement with the Dutch PM Mark Rutte after the two countries today revealed Russia's GRU intelligence agency tried to hack into the global chemical weapons watchdog a month after the Salisbury attack.
Theresa May (pictured left at her party conference in Birmingham yesterday) and Dutch PM Mark Rutte (pictured at the UN Assembly in September today tore into Russia for its 'unacceptable cyber activities' and vowed to hit back to defend the international order against their strikes
The Dutch Defence Ministry this morning took the extraordinary step of naming and picturing four Russian agents involved in the attack on the OPCW in April.
The two leaders said: 'We have, with the operations exposed today, further shone a light on the unacceptable cyber activities of the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU.
'This attempt to access the secure systems of an international organisation working to rid the world of chemical weapons, demonstrates the GRU's disregard for the global values and rules that keep us safe.
'Our action today reinforces the clear message from the international community: we will uphold the rules-based international system and defend international institutions from those that seek to do them harm.'
'A diabolical perfume of lies': Russia makes novichok reference as it blasts claims its GRU agents were behind global cyber attacks
Russia today described British accusations that its spies were behind global cyber attacks as 'a diabolical perfume of lies'.
The Russian Foreign Ministry's phrase referred to the Salisbury poisonings earlier this year which saw the novichok nerve agent disguised in a fake perfume bottle.
Its spokesman Maria Zakharova said the new hacking allegations were unworthy and part of a disinformation campaign designed to damage Russian interests.
But Ms Zakharova said today the accusations were the product of someone with a 'rich imagination', adding: 'It's some kind of a diabolical perfume cocktail.'
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova, pictured with President Vladimir Putin in January 2017, dismissed the new hacking accusations from the UK as 'a diabolical perfume of lies'. The statement is thought to be a reference to the fake perfume bottle used in the novichok attack which killed British mother Dawn Sturgess
Asked about accusations from the Foreign Office of Russia being involved in worldwide cyber attacks, a spokesman for the Russian embassy said: 'This statement is reckless. It has become a tradition for such claims to lack any evidence. It is yet another element of the anti-Russian campaign by the UK Government.
'In December 2017 during the then-foreign secretary Boris Johnson's visit to Moscow, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov proposed to launch expert consultations on cybersecurity in order to address UK's concerns, if any.
'The offer was turned down. The only reasonable explanation is that the UK has no facts for a substantive discussion.
'Thus, such statements by the Foreign Office are nothing but crude disinformation, aimed at confusing the British and world public opinion.
'By the way, it is hardly a coincidence that these accusations appear exactly at the time of Nato defence ministers meeting in Brussels and announcements of creating special cyber-attack military units in several western countries.'
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News Pictures Britain, Holland and US spearhead fightback against Putin's cyber war
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